Anoushka Patel's Blog

When I was reading my friend Jorline Ou’s Blog post on “Sex” I realized that a lot of companies rely on sexual content to attract their customers to buy their products. Its not just any companies that rely on sexual media to attract their current market segment and new ones, its mostly clothing companies like Calvin Klein or Guess and perfume companies like Channel and Gucci that rely heavily on these types of advertisements. Brands like Gucci and Channel partner up with extremely attractive stars and grab the attention of their consumers by advertising their premium products through sexual content. In all their advertisements, they portray the glamorous life of the rich and famous and convey a certain “upscale” image and their superiority among other brands. When consumers see this commercial, they automatically want the fragrance because it makes them believe that if they do buy J’adore they will become sexier. It gives consumers the incentive to pay that much for a bottle of perfume because when they do, it is almost guaranteed that they will become more physically appealing to the opposite sex. Most of the commercials always have an underlying story of a mystery lover or a mystery woman and it evokes that sense of excitement in consumers about the possibilities in their own lies  if they buy the product. Mostly these brands advertise their products in such a way that it fulfills a consumers psychological needs and gives them a confidence boost and awakes the sexiness within all.

In my friend Jennifer Chen’s post ” Its all about Teamwork” she made an interesting point about non sporting companies such as coke and Pepsi who spend millions of dollars on advertising during World sporting events. There are many events all over the world, and it is during these world sporting events in which companies, no matter what they make, try their hardest to reach out to new consumers. An event as large as the Olympics or the Fifa world cup is the perfect venue for any companies to get the attention of millions if not billions of consumers. Although Nike and the traditional sporting brands like Adidas and Reebok are seen, companies such as coke, Pepsi and Mcdonalds who have nothing to do with he sporting world are almost always sponsoring these huge events because they are aware of the mass amount of publicity they receive in return. Coke was one of the main sponsors of the Fifa World Cup 2010 and they found a very unique way to reach out to new consumers. They used African Legend Roger Milla to send a message to all those who loved football and all those who were die hard football fans: Coke was the the drink that Roger Miller consumes, and when he revolutionized the game by his famous dance, he drank coke. In essence, coke was conveying that coke is not just a drink, it is a way of celebration and when you open a bottle of coke you are “opening happiness”

Coke also did a remarkable job of uniting and instilling a feeling of patriotism and pride among the South African people through advertisements such as this. They made the African people aware that one of their very own beloved people had changed the game of football for every and they made sure that everyone noted that coke was their throughout the years cheering their team on.

Humans by nature are curious beings, what we know is never enough. We always strive for ways to figure out the unknown and are almost never satisfied with an “I don’t know, its just the way it is”. As humans, we have this insatiable desire to know everything, whether it be gossip about someone else’s personal life or whether there is life on another planet. Google is a master of this and have tapped into every humans desire to know everything by creating amazing programs like google earth and google street to enable users to travel back to the familiar, or to places they could only dream of visiting. Apparently for Billionaire adventurer Richard Branson the knowledge the human beings posses about the world, space and the moon is not enough to satisfy his hunger of exploration. In Richard Branson’s latest blogs ” Launching Virgin Oceanic” he states that humans have explored 0% its deepest points and have only mapped 3% of its oceans through an unmanned craft. Richard Branson has created the Virgin Oceanic which is a submarine that will travel to the deepest trenches of the ocean, and will enable the user to pilot the submarine and explore the depths of the ocean from home. He has partnered up with Google who will stream the dives on Google maps and images and videos will be uploaded to Google Earth’s interactive map of the world. He has teamed up with explorers and scientists to collect data about living forms not seen by the human eye. By launching Virgin Oceanic, Richard Branson has truely understood what consumers as human beings really want, KNOWLEDGE! Google on the other hand has done the smart choice of partnering up with him as they have the technology to execute the project and they can reach another market segment they previously could not satisfy: Ocean lovers

Cricket! In North America cricket is “that sport which kind of looks like baseball but is not” but in India, cricket is more than a sport, its a way of life. Cricket is not just about wining or losing, its a religion that brings together one billion people in a country that is severely stratified by class. Everyone in India eats, sleeps and breathes cricket and no one could have asked fro anything more than to host the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup on home soil. The hype of hosting the world cup spread like wildfire and India got ready to win another major tournament. Nike which is the main sponsor of the Indian Cricket team started the Bleed Blue pledge to get everyone hyped up and to encourage people to buy world cup merchandise. Nike used all of the main stars of the team to reach out to consumers and used them to encode the message of unity to the consumers. This campaign was extensively communicated on billboards, posters and this advertisement was aired on every single channel in different languages to reach all consumers. The message was strong and clear and united a nation of one billion people and everyone wanted to be a part of this proud and historic moment.   Consumers decoded the message in an extremely positive manner by pledging to bleed blue and responded by flocking to Nike stores to buy the 2011 world cup jersey. The jersey and merchandise is in such high demand that almost all the stores are sold out or have very little in stock. Nike started a pledge in which everyone felt they had to be a part of because buying a jersey is the same as saying ” I pledge my support to team India, I Bleed Blue.”

When all of us were growing up, I’m sure a lot if us were told that the best things in life are free and that good things come in small packages. At first, when we were young or in our early teens the concept seemed absolutely bizzare, as none of the best candy was for free now was it? That was until we grew a little older and hopefully, a little smarter, to realize that it was the small things that money couldn’t buy that truely made one happy. Mastercard is one company that has used this concept to inform their consumers about the benefits of using their cards.  Their famous slogan “There are some things money cant buy, for everything else there’s Mastercard” influences the attitudes of the consumers and evokes the affective part of the consumers as they can relate to the feeling of joy that is portrayed in the commercials. When consumers see the advertisements they can connect with what is happening. Mastercard also uses many famous celebrities to promote their products knowing that consumers who look up to these celebrities or athletes are more likely to use their card if they perceive their role model to use it. During the cricket world cup a few years ago, Mastercard used Sachin Tendulkar who is also known as the cricket god in India for the commercial knowing that the whole country looked up to him. In another commercial they used Peyton Manning, a famous American football quarterback in a funny commercial to attract more consumers to use their cards. Not only are the commercials informative because they convey that the fact that Mastercard is accepted anywhere in the world, but the commercials appeal to many consumers who can connect with that “priceless” feeling.

We as consumers are all loyal to certain brands. For instance, some consumers only find comfort in running in Nike shorts and cringe with the idea of ever having to run in Adidas or Reebok. Some consumers, will go out of their way to buy a Starbucks Latte instead of settling for a Tim Horton’s double double, which brings me to the infamous Mac vs PC argument. If you ever ask anyone who currently owns a Mac I can assure you they would undoubtedly pledge their undying love towards their their laptop. I must admit, even though I am a happy PC user, I had almost been sucked into buying the Macbook Pro, for a number of good reasons. Not only is Apple one of the most innovative pioneers in the market, but one can be assured that the high price certifies excellent quality. Apple has successfully “cut through the noise” and has positioned itself in the mind of the consumer as the number one in the category of laptops and desktops  because of the many features that are offered. Also, apple has intelligently positioned itself at the top by repositioning its competitors (PC).   Apple has positioned itself at the top by focusing on the many flaws that come with a PC. They have capitalized on the fact that Macs are immune to viruses and PC’s and hence reveal the benefits of buying a mac over a PC. Apple has also demonstrated the many operating flaws of the new systems for PC’s which was created to combat the problem of viruses. The allow/ cancel command function protects the computer from spyware and viruses, but at a cost, a cost which no MAC user will ever have to pay. Apple has demonstrated that it is safer, more efficient and can do exactly what the PC does, but better, thereby increasing the benefits sought by consumers.  

There are many small events in our daily lives that make us smile, but often enough, most of us are too busy or too stressed to even notice. Then there are those random moments which really catch your attention and can surprisingly change the whole course of an almost unbearable day. It may be that random guy on the bus that is flaunting his drumming skills on his imaginary drums, or the engineering kids running around in lab coats and boxers, and if you’re lucky enough, you might even see that guy who randomly dresses up in a panda suit for some karoke at the gallery. What better way to catch the attention of a mass of people than by doing any of the above OR evern better, by organizing a flash mob. A flash mob has proven to be a very effective way of drawing the attention of hundreds of people as the main purpose of a flash mob is to create a light hearted gathering of people to intrigue and mystify bystanders with a routine and then quickly disperse. Although originally flash mobs were organized through social media just for fun like the New York City “No Pants Day”  many companies have realized the immense power of flash mobs and have used it to create brand awareness and increase brand equity.

Virgin mobile realized the power of the flash mob and strategically chose Toronto’s busiest intersection to reach their target market and as well to reach out to new consumers. They found a unique way to increase its brand equity and brand awareness as flash mobs affect more than just the people who witnessed it through media attention and positive word of mouth. Virgin also conveyed their brand personality as a lively and fun brand. Lastly Virgin positioned themselves as the company who cared to make everyone smile and who made sure ‘everybody is gonna love today’.

The year 2010 was marked by many historic sporting events all around the globe. The 2010 winter Olympic games took place right here in British Columbia, the Common wealth games all the way in Delhi and the Asian games in China. Although watching Alex Bilodeau win the first gold medal on Canadian soil make made me jump up and down with joy, and I got to watch some of my friends represent India at the Asian games, nothing excited  more than the thought of the Fifa world cup in South Africa. This world cup was filled with disappointments with all the big favorites got knocked out within the early stages of the tournament. There was one team that consistently played BAD, and that team was France. After their unacceptable behavior on and off the pitch, and their embarrassing performance, the French football team is under severe reconstruction. With their new coach and their new sponsor Nike, the team is ready to make a comeback. To help them reach their goals, Nike has designed a new jersey for the  squad which is unique to France and the football world.

Nike has designed a shirt that is the signature of French fashion by adding the collar and the sleek body fit which appeals to French players. The fabric was specifically engineered for the team and consists of a new fabric which will enhance the functionality of the jersey. Keeping in mind that footballers are attached to their ‘favourite Tshirts’  Nike innovatively lined the inside of the jersey with cotton to give players their “favorite shirt feel” while playing. The most unique part of the jersey is the fold-able red sleeve which allows each player to choose whether he wants to sport the tradition red white and blue look or not. Only time will tell if these efforts will boost the moral of the French Team or not.

Being a girl is pretty awesome, and I’m sure a lot of my fellow ladies will agree with me for the most of it, but there comes a time every now and then, when I’m sure most of us wished we were guys. No, I’m not talking about the hot summer days when most of us wished we could play shirtless soccer without drawing any attention to ourselves, or the time we wished we could take trips without our parents worrying about us 24/7. It’s more like that time when every single girl is totally justified in voicing every complaint and is more than justified in being pissed off, even for the slightest things. Here in North America, no one really understand the extent to which we are blessed. In many developing nations such as Africa, young girls aren’t as lucky as us, even when it comes to the most basic of necessities. In East Africa, educators have reported a high absenteeism rate from school among young women during their menstruation cycle due to a lack of resources for sanitary protection combined with a lack of knowledge about this feminine issue. Seeing this, Proctor and Gable, along with ‘the Girl Child Network’ initiated the “Always stay in school” campaign. A commitment has been made by P&G to provide 15,000 girls with enough sanitary protection to last two years, and to provide $200,000 and $4 million women hygiene products to protect and educate young women.

Not only has P&G understood the dynamics behind making large profit margins, but they have also understood the social responsibility they have towards their consumers. In the pricing of these products they have taken into consideration the economic constraints of African consumers and have priced their products accordingly. This initiative supports two of the UN Millennium  development goals and is a great example of global partnering to enhance the lives of vulnerable women through education, empowerment and provision of resources.

36, 25, 36- perfect body? More like impossible body for most of us. Everyone now a days seems to be absolutely obsessed with losing weight, and gaining that super model, skinny figure that you almost only see in magazines. Unless of course, you are one of those lucky few who were given the ultimate gift of a high metabolism rate like my older sister. Many people seem to be dissatisfied with their figures, and have some how managed to have mistaken ‘thin’ for ‘fit’. This is definitely not the case and one can imagine the joy I experienced when i came across the Nike womens campaign. Thunder thighs, Big Butt, Man shoulders. Ideal? maybe not. But who is to say it is not beautiful?

Nike’s campaign focuses on the “real” woman by celebrating women who don’t have the socially ideal body, but are nonetheless, proud and confident of what they can achieve. It pushes away rail thin models and fits right in to the reality trend in our daily lives. This campaign pitches its products to women who want to look better, but in a more realistic way. It simultaneously makes women advocates of their own body as well as the Nike brand by making women feel like they are in control of their lifestyle. When women see this, most of them relate to what is being said and feel a sense encouragement and a boost of self esteem, which is exactly what Nike aimed to do, to attract women to buy their products. Nike penetrated a new market by focusing on women, unlike other sporting brands that are mostly geared to men.

I am an avid squash player, and I gave up on the skinny figure my sister has after i realized 30 hours of training a week did not make me lose the pounds I thought Mcdonalds had given me.

Just LOVE it!